Tête-à-Tête-Tête » Wars & Rumors

A Soldier’s War Experience

Buck — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:04:00 +0000

A friend of mine just gave me a copy of this poem

She went to the funeral of a veteran yesterday and this poem was read during the service.

Maybe this is something that gets read at a lot of funerals for soldiers and veterans but I had never heard it and I have been to quite a few.

The author did a fine job.

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Bhutto on Obama in Pakistan

smijer — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:00:22 +0000

She has a lot to say, and I think it would pay to listen to her.

But [laughs] I think I would want to make clear to him that he’s opened a third front in my country. By allying America with this government, he has furthered the cause of the Pakistani Taliban so immensely, so immensely. Because when you’ve got these guys fighting the seventh largest army in the world and the first largest army in the world, and they’re fighting and they’re losing their homes, people forget that they flog women. People forget that they are in favor of an incredibly repressive Sharia system. Because what they see is that [the Taliban] are fighting a corrupt system, a corrupt government, a violent army.

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Posted in: International, Wars & Rumors
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Pax Moderna

smijer — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:00:04 +0000

Steven Pinker says we are living in increasingly peaceable times, despite some perceptions to the contrary. Who’d a thunk it. Warning – Libertarians will not like this essay.

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The General Says “Meet the New Boss”

smijer — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:30:33 +0000

And says it so much better than I can.

Followers of a cult of personality will allow their leader to get away with almost anything; believers in justice and basic legal principles will remain loyal to those principles first, not to any individual politicians.

Our lives, property, and liberty are best secured through the existence of strong laws which apply to everyone, most especially the government, and not by trusting in the “good will” or “good character” of any particular leaders. That’s what it means to be a nation of laws rather than a nation of men: a nation ruled by rational systems rather than one ruled by charismatic authority figures.

America under the Bush administration was moved away from being a nation of laws to a nation ruled by the whim of a single leader. If we are going to move back to being a nation of laws, we must pressure the Obama administration to do so. We cannot and should not simply assume that he and others will just “do the right thing.” We must not be afraid to criticize Barack Obama and his appointed officials with all the same fierceness with which we once criticized George W. Bush – it’s the principles of liberty and democracy which matter, not any one person.

Amen.

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Posted in: D's, Justice, Wars & Rumors
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Hilarious, except for the stakes…

smijer — Thu, 15 May 2008 21:53:17 +0000

If he wasn’t going to be the next President, this McCain gaffe would be absolutely the most hysterical campaign mistake I can remember. This coming from a candidate for President of the United States, or in the new parlance, Commander in Chief. The sole executor and protector of national security. This is a level of ignorance I expect in teenage kids with purple hair, not from a sitting senator or a Presidential Candidate.

It’s funny to see the GOP beating their collective chest about national security when their top guy is clueless even about the basics.

I remember when they called it a “gaffe” that Howard Dean told the truth about the capture of Saddam Hussein – that it wouldn’t make anybody safer. These same folks will be curiously silent about a real gaffe.

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Winning in Afghanistan

Buck — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:13:33 +0000

Give that guy a medal!

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Moyers

smijer — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 12:26:13 +0000

…but they couldn’t have done it on their own. They needed a compliant press to pass on their propaganda as news and cheer them on.

That’s from Chapter 1 of the internet broadcast, and a real gem. I’ve only watched part, and so far much more impressed with Chapter 2 than anything besides that quote from Chapter 1. You can watch it here.

The problem with the press is that there is little financial motivation for being responsible, careful, and right. There is plenty to be sensational, yellow, and compliant.

Only a more discerning public can correct that.

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Evil in the Islamic World

smijer — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 11:00:12 +0000

The reason I rarely post about stuff like this is that so many people write about these things with the attitude that they should justify a show-down at high noon. That because of these things, a hard-line approach, with the tacit hope for military aggression, is eminently justified. I don’t wish to be perceived as one who endorses that attitude – and it is nearly impossible to post about it without spilling a lot of ink explaining why bomb bomb bomb, bomb Iran is the wrong solution, and what approaches exist that are far more morally acceptable, and probably more likely to succeed. And, still, the take-away message for many people is “Iran bad, us good”, so let the killin’ commence.

I post more frequently on American malfeasance, though it rarely rises to the level of immorality found in this Iranian example. Why? Because I don’t expect people to use our shared disgust at American wrong-doers as an excuse to form a vigilante posse to beat our politicians and preachers into submission. I don’t expect the government to use our shared disgust at American wrong-doing as an excuse to launch a military campaign against the perpetrators. In fact, I don’t expect everyone to even feel that disgust or understand the reasons behind it. So, the best case outcome of broadcasting a criticism of crooks and liars at home is that their crimes and lies will be stopped – and the worst case is that there will be no impact. On the other hand, the best case when broadcasting about wrong-doing overseas is that there will be no impact. The worst case is that the wrong-doing will be multiplied. See Iraq for instance.

Nevertheless, such behavior disgusts me, and every once in a while, I have to say so. This is in no way an endorsement of the “give war a chance” platform.

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Posted in: International, Justice, Wars & Rumors
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We Did This To Ourselves

smijer — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:07:33 +0000

The Concern Trolls at RedState:

Instead of trying to play reasonable, you decided to pee in the man’s cornflakes. You pissed him off and he now has your precious policy by the short hairs.

What could we have been thinking? Instead of reasonably genuflecting to Lieberman as he went on Fox News and called Democrats traitorous for asking to stop all the killing out East with no apparent purpose in mind, we got all pissy and ran a successful primary campaign against him, and followed up with a pretty good general election for a Democrat who represents the views of Connecticut. We didn’t even stop to think that he might be entitled by 12 years of incumbency, millions of GOP dollars, and national name recognition to do whatever the hell he wants to on Fox News without interference from people who care about the direction of the country and the party. We peed in the man’s cornflakes! How could we have been so stupid?

Now he’s got us and our policies by the short hairs. He can join the up-and-coming minority party – give them two years to enjoy a Dick-Cheney-Tie-Break majority… until 2008. For one and a half long years, Lieberman can vote against his constituents with a technical majority that will have exactly the same chances of keeping Americans in Iraq as it would have with him voting GOP from the Democratic side of the aisle. Please, someone, let go of my short hairs. We won’t think of running a primary challenge again, ever!

And how scorned will we feel when he goes on Fox News to call Democrats traitors – not as a Bi-Partisan(TM) Moderate Democrat, not as a Connecticut-For-Liebermaner, but as a stalwart ally of Tom Delay and Dick Cheney? Why do we do these things to ourselves?

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Iraq

smijer — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 23:53:44 +0000

It’s been said before & it’s been said better. All the guys who were so famously and cripplingly wrong about Iraq on so many different points – they are still the ones calling the shots. They – President included – are the ones favoring a “Surge” of troops, in opposition to the Joint Chiefs, the Iraq Study group, the majority of Americans, and pretty much everybody else. It just blows my mind that they can be wrong so much, and still think they have all the answers when the people who at least got some things right are shouting “no! no! no!”

It’s just scary.

The President says he won’t hear of options that “mean defeat”, then he chooses the bloodiest available path to a continued, increasingly pyrrhic… defeat. When you are losing this badly, even getting out with your skin is a kind of victory – why not sieze on that?

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